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The United States based search engines Yahoo! and Bing (Microsoft’s search engine) are continuing to run advertisements for rogue online pharmacies that sell counterfeit, adulterated, or unapproved prescription drugs despite federal laws restricting advertising of drugs online.

A report published on 4 August by the companies KnujOn, a security firm, and LegitScript, an online pharmacy verification company—both of which have been endorsed by the US National Association of Boards of Pharmacy―investigated online pharmacies that were advertised on Bing and in advertisements sponsored by Microsoft (www.legitscript.com/BingRxReport.pdf).

The researchers found that online advertisements on Bing permitted the sale of prescription drugs without a valid prescription and of illegally sourced and unregulated drugs. Of the 69 internet pharmacies in their analysis sponsored by Bing, 62 (90%) were operating illegally, …

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